


Doujinshi

by kadotoriku



Category: Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Genre: Alien Cultural Differences, Characters Reading Fanfiction, Gen, The Bakugan Battle Brawlers are Vestal Celebrities, The Evo Tournament, i promise it's written like a fanfic with a self-insert oc, it's a legitimately published bakugan manga one shot, which i do NOT accept as canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:13:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23589712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kadotoriku/pseuds/kadotoriku
Summary: Dan finds a book up for sale which opens up a discussion on what and how exactly did the Vestal members of the Resistance learn of the Bakugan Battle Brawlers and their partners.
Relationships: Bakugan Defenders | Bakugan Battle Brawler Resistance
Kudos: 18





	Doujinshi

**Author's Note:**

> I had to briefly debate with myself if I wanted Baron to call the Bakugan Brawlers "master" or "senpai". Ended with him using "senpai" so I can stay true to the original Japanese dub.
> 
> The Evo Tournament is a real life one-shot. It was written and published in English, actually, and I don't think there's a Japanese translation. If you want to read the actual book, there are some scans online but not of the complete thing, only the first few chapters.
> 
> Believe me when I say that there are some errors in it ajdfjkldsjf like time not stopping and Shun smiling way too much for him to be in character.
> 
> Kudos are appreciated, reviews are cherished!
> 
> Please enjoy!

The amazed and gawking looks of his alien teammates at the sight of anything Vestal never fails to amuse Ace.

It’s mostly toned down now, but there’s always a lingering eagerness and wonder in the humans’ eyes. They’re so _fascinated_ by Vestal culture that it makes pride swell in Ace’s hearts. Even if Alpha City is the result of Vestals invading another planet, he couldn’t deny that the architecture and everything about it is of a high standard. Dan, Shun, and Marucho always perk up whenever there’s a need for someone to get supplies in the city or scout the surrounding area.

This time, Dan’s the one accompanying him to the convenience store.

Or, as the humans shorten it, the _konbini_. Which, in Ace’s humble opinion, is a cuter word compared to _CVS_.

Right now, he’s glaring at two different brands of electrical tape he’s holding in either hand. One is more expensive yet from a well-known company while the other is an unfamiliar yet cheap alternative... Decisions, decisions.

The Resistance isn’t _broke_ per se (considering that, in addition to their allowances and earnings from brawls, Mira’s father is the king’s favorite scientist and her missing brother published a few notable research papers), but a little frugality doesn’t hurt...

“Ace.” He turns his head slightly as Dan taps his shoulder. “You got spare Y— _Kane_?”

Raising an eyebrow, the Vestal returns the cheap alternative and drops the other tape into his basket. “What for?”

“I want to check something out.”

He stares at the human, who shuffles his feet and looks slightly uncomfortable after seven seconds of scrutiny. Dan _always_ wants to check something out, whether it be advanced circuits or a particularly interesting building. The Resistance needs to stay under the radar because even if the chances of being found in this district are slim, they shouldn’t be testing their luck...

“ _Please_?”

 _I’m going soft_ , Ace mentally groans.

While they _could_ go exploring together after buying supplies, Mira _did_ give them a time limit before the others would come looking for them. Sighing in defeat, he rummages through his pockets for spare change.

“Here’s fifty.” He hands over five square coins. “Might afford you some candy or a drink. Try not to go too far and be back quickly, unless you want to get smashed into a diamond by our lovely leader.”

“Thanks!” Dan beams as he points to a few kiosks on the street. “I’ll be around and back in five.”

“Just don’t die on me. And yell if a battle breaks out, I want in on the action.”

火

“ _Please_ tell me that isn’t a bomb.”

“No, it’s not!” Dan reassures him in a way that isn’t reassuring at all. “Got it for 35. It’s just manga, something to entertain me. And it’s my Vestal souvenir.”

The Darkus brawler stares at the crudely wrapped package in Dan’s hands as they walk to Mira’s parked motorcycle. He points a threatening finger at the other. “If that shit explodes or gives away our location, I swear to the Perfect Core, I will kick your human ass so hard that you end up back in your dimension.”

“Yessir.”

“Good.” Pause. “And what’s a _manga_? Is that some sort of fruit?”

“It’s like a picture book! Like a... uh, comic! Comic book.”

Ah, a fine addition to Ace’s word of the day: _manga_ is synonymous with _comic book_. “Can you _read_ our language though?” Even though humans (the... _Japanese_ ones) and Vestals use similar spoken languages, it turns out that their writing systems are _very_ different. He felt like banging his head on a wall when he attempted to learn those strange human symbols called _Kanji_.

Dan shrugs. “Sure, I can! Plus, I _really_ want to show Shun and Marucho this.”

Briefly, Ace wonders if Dan bought some sort of porn magazine before banishing the thought. Who the fuck would sell that to someone that obviously looked like a teenager? He takes a quick glance at the Pyrus brawler before he starts up the motorcycle and prays that he didn’t unknowingly unleash something onto the Resistance.

火

Dan jumps off the vehicle the moment it stopped, bouncing on his feet and rushing past Ace. He bursts into the common space, startling the living hell out of Baron as Dan yells:

“ _SHUN! MARUCHO! I’VE GOT SOMETHIN’ TO SHOW YOU GUYS!_ ”

“Senpai, what’s going on?” Baron asks.

“Sorry!” The human smiles sheepishly. “Gotta show this to the others first. Promise, I’ll explain later, after they get here.”

Ace sighs, exasperated. “Drop it, Baron. He bought himself a souvenir and probably wants to show it off. Some sort of comic book... they call it _manga_.” He tests the unfamiliar word and Dan makes an affirmative nosie.

As if on cue, the sliding doors to the living room part to show Shun and Marucho.

“What took you guys so _long_?” Dan whines, frantically beckoning them over.

“Where’s the fire?” Marucho asks, eyes wide and alert. At the sight of Dan being, well, _Dan_ and not in any obvious danger, he says, “I was _showering_!”

“What’s that?” Shun gestures to the package Dan’s holding.

The Pyrus brawler smiles and rips off the paper wrappings to reveal a book. “I’m glad you asked! Because I present to you, my fellow humans, my _amazing_ discovery!” He holds it up and shows off the cover to his friends. It depicts him at the center with the other five Battle Brawlers and their respective Bakugan doing various poses.

“ _Tada_! A _doujinshi_! An actual published fanfiction of _us_ , the Battle Brawlers!”

Dan looks at his shell-shocked friends expectantly.

“What the _fuck_?” is the first thing that comes out of Shun’s mouth as he snatches the thing. He checks the back, which has the summary written in the Vestal alphabet and a drawing of a blond girl and an unfamiliar Bakugan.

The Pyrus brawler tries (and fails) to hide his snickering. “I skimmed through it and it’s _hilarious_.”

Marucho stares at the book like it’s an actual bomb in disguise. His eyes squint as he tries to read the alien text. “What’s the title? The Eu... Evo Tournament?”

“The Evo Tournament.” Dan nods and takes the book back, flopping back onto the couch. His best friends sit on either side of him as he reads the summary at the back. “ _Bakugan is more than a game: The fate of the two worlds rests on the outcome!_

“ _Dan and Drago have decided to enter the mysteeerious Evo Tournament in order to become even more powerful. But what’s the secret of the rare Bakugan who is reigning champ? And what happens when Runo enters the tournament, intent on stopping them? Is winning the Evo Tournament worth the price?_ ”

“We never had any sort of tournament with that name,” Marucho notes.

“Well, it’s fanfiction,” Shun muses. “It’s definitely interesting to be the subject of a fan comic. Is it any good?”

“Oh, _no_.” Baron lets out a loud groan which cause the three humans to look at him. He turns red as he stammers out, “I... I have that comic book, actually. We, Vestals, don’t know much about Earth or how you guys brawl over there, so lots of books and theories popped up.”

Ace coughs. “There’s even a web series cartoon based on you guys, except the characters are completely different. The main character’s named Dan and his partner is named Drago, but that’s about the only similarity, I think.”

“I know that show.” Mira says as she walks into the living room, holding her data pad. “My brother and I used to watch it. There was a character named Shun Kazami there too, except he’s blond and uses Aquos Bakugan.”

Shun makes a face and Dan laughs.

“Why are you boys discussing that, anyway?” she asks curiously.

“I found this manga—this _comic book_ for sale and had to check it out!” Dan corrects himself at her confused expression. He holds up the cover and her eyes widen in recognition.

He opens it to the first page and makes sure that Shun and Marucho can see it. “It starts off with some monologue I have over how _my whole world changed one day when all these random cards started raining down everywhere_ blah blah.”

A few pages later, there’s a shot of the six original Battle Brawlers.

“Woah, they’re surprisingly super accurate!” Marucho compliments. “They got our favorite outfits right, though I’m not used to the art style yet.”

“You should see some of the other merchandise they make.” Mira laughs to herself. “We base everything off of what we hear from Bakugan. I think I saw a poster where Marucho was Dan’s height, and one where the pictures looked _nothing_ like you guys.”

“Huh, now that I think about it, I didn’t initially believe that these guys _are_ the Battle Brawlers because, to my knowledge, Dan has dark hair and brown eyes, Marucho has ‘light’ hair and green eyes, and Shun has long midnight hair and gray eyes.” Ace puts a finger to his chin thoughtfully.

The ninja absentmindedly touches his hair. “I mean, I _did_ cut my hair. Much better to keep it short instead of it hitting me all the time when I trained.”

“Some posters and artists don’t even _try_. They can mix and match colors then slap your names on it, and kids will still buy it since there’s no concrete or widely agreed-upon appearance and color scheme for you guys,” Ace says. “Bakugan aren’t super reliable when it comes to Earth customs, either.”

“Shun actually smiles a _lot_ here.” Dan flips through the pages, showing off to the aforementioned friend the panels where his fictional self smiles. “Kazami Shun? Showing _emotion_? This manga would be realistic if it wasn’t for that.”

“I’m not _emotionless_ , Dan.”

“Yeah, but you were in, like, your intense emo phase back then. Y’know, being the cool mysterious Mr. Hotshot that all the girls fell in love with.”

Marucho’s gasp cut off whatever Shun was going to say. “Time doesn’t stop when we brawl!” He frowns at the error, finding it strange that the outside world continues when there’s a brawl going on.

“ _Time stops when you brawl?_ ” Ace’s voice goes up an octave or two.

“We use Field Cards to open up a sort-of pocket dimension,” Shun explains to the confused Vestals, “and time stops in the outside world. Or is, at least, slowed down to the point where brawls happen in a _very_ short amount of time.”

“This book doesn’t actually show us using Field Cards to open the pocket dimension, but we _do_ say ‘ _Field, Open!_ ’,” Dan says.

“ _Awesome_.” Baron’s eyes sparkle at the new knowledge.

“Can you... open a field with an opponent from far away?” Mira questions.

Dan nods his head enthusiastically. “Yeah! We actually used that method thingy a couple times. I remember joining Runo and Marucho in a brawl when they were... dragged away somewhere. When the battle was over, I brought them over to where I was.”

“Do you still have your Field Cards?”

“I still keep mine in my wallet, which is with me right now,” he admits. The Pyrus brawler still has lots of things from when they first encountered the Bakugan. No one is allowed to touch his Launcher, and he’s actually wearing his BakuPod right now. He fondly remembers borderline harassing Marucho to upgrade it into a smart watch.

“I think mine’s with me too,” Marucho says.

“Same here,” Shun adds.

Mira looks thoughtful. “Do you think we can use them in case we’re separated? Say, recon or another mission goes wrong, we open a field then close it right away to escape. Or we could have Shun infiltrate a Vexos base and bring us into a safe room. Is that possible?”

“It is!” Marucho’s eyes widen. “That’s brilliant, Mira! Why didn’t I think of that? Runo and I opened a field instinctively before, then closed it right after without needing to battle. That was on Earth, though, we’ve never had to use them in Vestroia.”

“We can test it around the base first,” Ace says.

“Wait, Shun-senpai.” Baron turns to the Ventus brawler. “Can I ask... So you _don’t_ have a friend named Katie Lowery?”

“ _Who?_ ” Shun looks at him blankly.

“Ooh, this girl!” Dan points to the girl at the back of the manga. “Apparently, she’s your friend before you joined us. Marucho got a crush on her or something, met her online.”

“I got a crush on _who_?”

“No.”

Shun and Marucho exclaim at the same time.

The Aquos brawler bemoans the stupidity of his comic counterpart, “Why would I get a crush on someone I met _online_? Do I even know her real name and life details? How long have we known each other?”

The ninja vehemently shakes his head. “I refuse to acknowledge that book’s existence.”

“If you’re getting a headache from those small details, I wonder how much more of our merchandise will cause you pain,” Ace says, amused.

“C’mon, guys! It’s all in good fun. Not like the artist’s harming anyone.” Dan pouts before his eyes light up. “I know! We should find the most inaccurate poster of us and bring it home.”

“Do people _cosplay_ as us?” Shun asks, horrified at the thought.

“If you’re asking if people dress up as you, then no. I don’t think so, anyway. Anyone could wear anything then pretend to be one of you guys.” Mira shakes her head and Shun looks at her like she singlehandedly saved the entire Bakugan race.

Marucho thumbs through the manga, he stops at a page and turns it over. “I’ve never seen this type of Bakugan before, do you have one like it at Vestal?”

“Oh! That’s Katie’s Bakugan, Mecha Chamelia, an artificially made Bakugan. It can copy other Bakugan and their abilities, pretty freaky.” Baron shudders. “I’ve never seen a similar Bakugan, but we don’t have robot Bakugan, don’t worry.”

“It’s possible,” Mira corrects.

Ace snorts. “I doubt even Zenoheld and his team of slave scientists can create a Mechanical Bakugan. It might blow up if it so much as lands on an authentic gate card.”

“It’s too much power if they _do_ manage to make one, what’s stopping them from giving it overpowered abilities?” Marucho points out, shutting the book and setting it on the table.

Mira shakes her head and purses her lips.

“I like to think they have a long way to go before that.”


End file.
